1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an arrangement of harnesses in a vehicle, in which a bundle of harnesses disposed in a section of the vehicle are connected to a bundle of harnesses disposed in another section thereof by means of a multiple connector.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As shown in FIG. 8, let it be supposed that a vehicle is divided into, for example, first, second, and third sections. In the first section A, a battery 1, a key switch 2, a combination switch 3, and other electronic parts are disposed. Those are each connected to a plurality of harnesses 4a and a harness bundle 4b. The harnesses 4a and the harness bundle 4b make up an engine harness bundle 5 in the first section A.
Likewise, in the second section B, a rear window defogger switch (DEF switch) 6, a time control unit 7, a buzzer 8, a rear window defogger relay (DEF relay) 9, and other electronic parts are disposed. These are each connected to a plurality of harnesses 10a and a harness bundle 10b. The harnesses 10a and the harness bundle 10b make up a main harness bundle 11 in the second section B.
In the third section C, a door switch 12, a rear window defogger heater (DEF heater) 13, and other electronic parts are disposed. These are each connected to a plurality of harnesses 14a and a harness bundle 14b. The harnesses 14a and the harness bundle 14b make up a body harness bundle 15 in the third section C.
The engine harness bundle 5 and the main harness bundle 11 are connected to each other by means of a multiple connector 16. A part of the main harness bundle 11 and the body harness bundle 15 are connected to each other by means of a multiple connector 17. Thereby, based on signals from sensors (not shown) and the switches 2, 3, 6, and 12, the time control unit 7 and other control units (not shown) control various operations.
As mentioned above, the vehicle is provided with many electronic parts and many control units by each of which a great number of controls are carried out. Accordingly, the number of harnesses making up harness bundles, such as the engine harness bundle 5 and the main harness bundle 11, attains to a big figure. This leads to a large number of terminals of the multiple connector 16, thus leading to a large number of terminals which are connected to those of the multiple connector 16. As a result, disadvantageously, the multiple connector 16 is made large-sized and entails high cost. In addition, because of the great number of terminals, great force is disadvantageously required to connect a male connector 16a to a female connector 16b of the multiple connector 16.
A solution to the above-mentioned problems is that the multiple connector 16 is separated into a plurality of connectors. However, this is at a disadvantage in that the number of connectors is increased and therefore the number of constituent parts is increased.